Sweden should have ignored Egypt torture promise

September 22nd, 2005 at 21:10 Björn Hallberg

But of course there was no fingerpointing. And no outrage to indicate that anyone actually cares.

The Local – A Swedish parliamentary commission on Wednesday unanimously criticized the government for the controversial deportation of two suspected Egyptian extremists to Cairo, where they were later allegedly tortured.

“Sweden should not have accepted Egypt’s guarantee that it would not torture or mistreat (the two men). The guarantee should therefore not have led to the deportation of two Egyptian citizens in December 2001,” the standing committee on the constitution (KU) said in a statement.

In December 2001 Ahmed Agiza and Mohammed al-Zery, who were suspected of terrorist activities and ordered to be deported from Sweden, were handed over to US agents, then put on a plane leased by the Pentagon and flown to Egypt.

The will be a blot on Sweden’s otherwise fine human rights record that will be with us for a long time. And as I have stated before, maybe that was a win-win situation that made the US so eager to come to our “aid” and make sure they were really gone before anyone could begin to ask questions. When you don’t have any credibility, at least make sure that no one else has any either.
One could, again, lament what has happened to Sweden’s once clear voice of international concern and conviction. All there is left now is a shoddy record and a muffled voice that more and more has started to sound like an apologist for empire and one that has bought into the propaganda. And that is after all with Social Democrats at the helm …

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